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Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Yet more evidence that cannabis has medicinal value, information many U.S. officials and news outlets are willfully ignoring, at the expense of American lives, to please corporate sponsors in the pharmaceutical industry, which currently cannot patent cannabis under strict "anti-drug" policies.

A prestigious gathering of scientists and researchers met in September in Leiden, The Netherlands, where the International Association for Cannabis as Medicine biennial conference heard first-hand reports of tumor reducing effects and other benefits of marijuana and cannabinoids. Cannabinoids are compounds found in the cannabis plant. Endocannabinoids are naturally occuring compounds in the human body that are similar in structure and effect to those in cannabis.

Much of the funding for the research projects was funded by government agencies such as NIDA and were designed to look for harmful effects rather than health benefits, which skewed the information somewhat. Nonetheless, significant benefits and relatively few harms were revealed. In fact, the marijuana smokers in general appeared pretty normal when compared to the rest of society, based on the reports that were given.

Not all research presented was government approved. Mark Gibson reported on his work with Canna-Biz Chocolate, which he and his wife produce and provide to a number of multiple sclerosis sufferers in the UK. They monitor their patients and saw significant alleviation of symptoms. Shortly thereafter, police came in and arrested them, shut the service down, took away their medicine and charged the couple with trafficking. Mark faces prison for his work. A court trial is planned for next year.

Jorg Fachner compared topographic EEG brain mapping changes of cannabis induced and sound-trance induced altered state of consciousness. Tumors reduced by cannabinoid Research on the tumor reducing effects of cannabinoids were one of the most exciting pieces of new information brought forth. The research, backed up with photos and measurements, showed that rats with large, induced tumors clearly benefited from application of cannabis derivatives, and not merely as an adjunct to chemotherapy. Researchers from Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, including Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, credited as the discoverer of the THC molecule, led an international team investigating the use of cannabinoids to treat cancer. Dubbed HU-331, cannabidiol-hydroxyquinone was produced from cannabidiol and used to treat tumors in vitro and in vivo, meaning both in petri dishes and also on living mice. "HU-331 shows very high effectivity against human cancer cell lines in-vitro and also against in-vivo tumor grafts in nude mice. At 35 days after cancer cell injection, the tumors in the treated group were half the size of the tumors in the controls," they reported. HU-331 inhibited T-cell lymphoma cell growth more than known anticancer drugs, including doxorubicin, mitoxantrone and etoposide. HU-331 proved much less toxic than doxorubicin, mitoxantrone and etoposide.

Promising review of Sativex Researchers from GW Pharmaceuticals reported on the company's work with natural, broad spectrum inhaled cannabis extract. The medication, already available in Canada, utilizes patented technology to ingest and regulate the dose without smoking by using a device similar to the asthma inhaler. Their research concluded that the plant-based medicinal extract Sativex produced significant improvements in a subjective measure of spasticity which were maintained on long-term treatment with no evidence of tolerance.

California research Dr. Jeffrey Hergenrather presented a paper developed with fellow California physicians Tod Mikuriya and David Bearman on the "Clinical improvement and reduction of immunosuppressive drug therapy in cannabis treated patients with Crohn's disease." They reported that "The Crohn's patients encountered by these physicians have been treated with a variety of conventional pharmacological therapies including steroids, other immunomodulators and a number of biologic therapies, including anti tumor necrosis factor." Smoked cannabis was found to be more effective in relieving symptoms than were the pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Donald Abrams reported favorably on smoked cannabis therapy for hiv-related painful peripheral neuropathy: results of a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Dale Gieringer, PhD, gave an update on the growth of cannabis medicine in the US: practice and usage in a semi-legal regime. Field trip to official gardens Marco van de Velde discussed "Two years of experience with legal production and distribution of medicinal cannabis in the Netherlands," and participants had an opportunity to take a field trip to the official, government licensed cannabis nursery of Bedrocan.

7 Comments:

atticus said...

Even though the U.S. government claims that there is no proven medicinal use for cannabis, blogs like yours refute this idiotic notion. I would like to call your attention to the Fourth National Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics, to be held in Santa Barbara, California, from April 6-8, 2006. Many prominent physicians will head panels and deliver papers. Donald Abrams, MD, Professor of Clinical Medicine and Head of Hematology-Oncology at University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco General Hospital, will deliver a lecture on "Cannabis in Pain and Palliative Care." Natalya Kogan, PhD will talk on the current status of cannabinoid research in Israel. Other learned papers delivered will include "Efficacy of Smoked Cannabis on Experimental Pain," and "Cannabis: Synthetic vs. Natural." Cannabis therapies for MS and AIDS and the therapeutic use of marijuana in pregnancy will also be discussed. Organized by the Virginia-based advocacy group, Patients Out of Time (POT), this prestigious conference is the fourth in a series and once again refutes the U.S. government allegations that cannabis has no medicinal value. Remember, however, that the sacred herb is very powerful and must be usedwisely.

I am a thirtysomething medpot patient living in Canada. I suffer from occasional epileptic seizures, complicated by chronic pain in my joints. My doctor suggested cannabis, which is permitted to be prescribed up here. I obtained some from a compassion club. Within weeks, the pain in my joints was manageable and the number and intensity of my seizures decreased.

My research on the Internet took me to an excellent medical marijuana website. I found a wealth of information on plant nutrition, light requirements, humidity and temperature control. The site also cautioned me about the wise use of marijuana. It is a sacred herb, that’s been used in healing since time immemorial, but it is also very powerful, so it should be approached with wisdom and respect.

In order to guarantee a constant supply, I’m growing my own marijuana, five or six plants at a time. I set up a hydroponic grow room in my basement. I had to buy a High Pressure Sodium light (400W) with a ballast, and a strong fan for ventilation. I was able to do this with some tax refund money.

This is my second year of growing pot. My first harvest was a cause for celebration! I invited my small group of friends and thanks to the use of Advanced Nutrients products like Micro, Grow, and Bloom, Tarantula, and Piranha, I had excellent quality medicine to last me for quite a while.

I even called the company for some technical advice, and they were very helpful. As a result, I am saving up to buy a CO2 generator, since carbon dioxide is essential for producing healthier, more robust pot plants. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Advanced Nutrients to anyone who is licensed to grow medical marijuana.

In order to guarantee a constant supply, I’m growing my own marijuana, five or six plants at a time. I set up a hydroponic grow room in my basement. I had to buy a High Pressure Sodium light (400W) with a ballast, and a strong fan for ventilation. I was able to do this with some tax refund money.------------------------------jockbenhttp://www.marijuanaaddictiontreatment.com

People around the world have been smoking bet basketball marijuana for thousands of years while also using the hemp plant for everything from fabric and rope to ethanol fuel. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, a man with a bit of power and enough determination decided pot was wicked, sportsbook evil and narcotic. He moved mountains to make it illegal worldwide. In the U.S., the struggle continues to this day to overcome the lies and misconceptions about marijuana that the government spent billions to spread. march madness Between 1937 and 1947, the government spent $220 million on the war against drugs. Between 1948 and 1963, the cost of this "war" on marijuana alone escalated to $1.5 billion. From 1964 to 1969 the government spent $9 billion on the war against marijuana, a price tag that continues to rise.http://www.enterbet.com

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